Tag Archives: Easter

In a recent interview on the life of faith and discipleship, Pope Francis shared an expression often used in Argentina – the expression is “primerea”. “…the Lord ‘primerea,’ anticipates us, waits for us; we sin and He is waiting to forgive us. He is waiting to welcome us, to give us His love, and each time faith grows.”

The Holy Father shared the expression in response to a question where he was asked about whether he ever felt betrayed by God. “Never,” responded Pope Francis. “I was the one who betrayed Him. At times I even felt like God was turning away from me, just as I turned away from Him. At very dark moments you ask yourself, ‘Where are you, God?’ I always believed that I was looking for God, but really it was He who was looking for me. He always gets there first and waits for us.”

The Lord “primerea”.

On Easter morning, Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb … it is empty. Peter and John run to the tomb and all they find are the burial cloths. The tomb is empty. It is empty because the Lord primerea!

A closed tomb is the opposite of primerea – there is no life, life is ended. All that the closed tomb offers is loss, sadness and pain. Life, on the other hand, by its very nature moves forward! It cannot remain stagnant nor be held back – the stone is rolled away and the tomb is emptied because the Lord primerea!

The Lord leaves the tomb in order to anticipate us, in order to show and be the living mercy that forgives us now and ever again on our journey. Even though this Easter Sunday we mark and proclaim in faith that greatest of events which occurred centuries ago when our Lord was bodily raised triumphant from the dead, the truth of the resurrection – and what it means for all time and creation – does not remain in the past. The truth of the resurrection is found in our today and in our tomorrow because this is where the risen Lord awaits us. The Lord primerea!

As Pope Francis remarked, “(The Lord) always gets there first and waits for us.”

Life calls us forward and Jesus is life itself! “Where is the resurrection?” some might ask. Others might demand that we point it out in order to prove it to them! I can say that it is not to be found in the history book nor in a museum. It is found right now and it resides in tomorrow. This is why on Easter Sunday we have this strange little reading about yeast. It is a strange reading really, and why – of all days – do we have it on Easter Sunday? You would think that there would be a reading proclaiming a blare of trumpets and choirs of angels singing. But, no, on our holiest day the Church has chosen this reading. Why?

Old yeast has no life, it produces nothing. It is like the enclosed tomb. But a little yeast that is true leavens all the dough – this little yeast brings life and it brings newness! And it does it truthfully and without the need for fanfare. Christ has been sacrificed and Christ has been raised!

True life does not need spectacle in order to prove itself. The resurrection does not need to prove itself to us nor does the one who is raised need to. Life reveals itself by being life. The resurrection is shown within the hearts that have been enlivened by it, by the hearts that encounter Christ today and move toward tomorrow in hope because the risen Lord awaits them there.

At the end of Luke’s gospel (Lk. 24:1-12), once the women had shared with the disciples what had occurred at the tomb, we are told that Peter runs to the tomb and upon arriving he bends down and sees “the burial cloths alone”. It seems an almost inconsequential thing. The main fact is the empty tomb, right? The burial cloths are just an after-thought one might think. John, in his gospel, is even more precise – the burial cloths are also noted but then John shares that the cloth used to cover the head of Christ was rolled up in a separate place.

In the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel we find the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus arrives at the tomb of his friend who has now been dead for four days. Jesus commands that the stone be removed and then he cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” John 11:44 reads this way; “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his head wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”

Lazarus emerges from the tomb still wrapped in the cloths of death because he is raised back to a life that is still bound by mortality. He will one day die again. In the empty tomb of Christ, the burial cloths have been left behind because Christ has been raised to newness of life. He who once was dead now lives forever! Death no longer has power over him!

Our God is a God of life and not of death. Guided by the Spirit we can now read this throughout salvation history. God created everything and all life out of the sheer gratuity and abundance of his love. God looks upon his creation and proclaims it to be good! When the people of Israel were enslaved God heard their cry. God freed them from their slavery and led them into the new life of their own land and their covenant with him. The prophets, again and again, call the people back to true life that can only be found in relationship with God. Even when the people profaned the covenant and the very name of God, God promises that he will restore them and cleanse them for the sake of his own holy name. God cannot be other than God. John tells us that “God is love” and Pope Francis asks us all to recognize this holy year that the name of God is mercy.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises that not only will he cleanse us outwardly but, even more so, that he will give us a new heart and a new spirit and that he will take from us our stony hearts and give us natural hearts.

In the empty tomb of Christ, with the burial cloths discarded and left behind, God removes our stony hearts. In the very place of death and decay, God gives us a new heart and a new spirit! Our God is a God of life and not death.

The new heart and new spirit of the Christian flows from the empty tomb of Christ and this new heart has already begun beating! Our resurrection to new life has already begun. St. Paul (and all the saints by their very lives) remind us that through our baptisms we have died with Christ in order to rise to newness of life with him. We now live for God in Christ Jesus!

In Christ, the tomb is emptied and the cloths of burial are left behind. Now, we, in Christ, can leave behind the life-denying cloths that bind us and all of humanity – the burial cloths of sin, violence, arrogance, egocentrism, injustice, isolation and fear. In Christ, we have risen to newness of life! In Christ, we can live again for one another and for God! Death is not the final word! Newness of life in Christ flows out of the empty and defeated tomb.

The tomb is emptied. The cloths that bind are left behind. Christ is risen! We are given a new heart and we can now live in newness of life!

Children like to run. Have you ever noticed this? Watch children at play – pure energy! In children we see the body just needing to move – not weighed down, not encumbered by age or past hurts – pure life and pure joy! Children run and in this running we find a witness to life and to joy!

The gospel (Jn. 20:1-9) today tells us that Mary of Magdala ran to the disciples once she saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb’s entrance. The gospel then goes on to tell us that Peter and John ran to the tomb to investigate. When you ask children at play, “Why do you run?” they probably will not be able to give an answer. Maybe at best they will say, “Because we can!” or “We just want to!” The running is just a witness to live within them. Why did Mary run? Why did Peter and John run? Was it a conscious decision on their part or rather, like children, did the energy of a new life impel them? I think it was the latter. An unimaginable energy, an unheard of joy – the tomb was empty! Death has been conquered! They ran simply because they had to!

For too long history has wept before the tombs of our world. How countless the number of men and women who have died by violence, hatred, war, famine, isolation and abandonment! Even today it continues. Before the tombs of our world our hearts are left heavy and we feel abandoned. Before the tomb there is no joy, no desire to run because there seems to be no future – no hope.

Hope impelled Mary and the two disciples to run. They ran because hope was born again in their hearts! Not a hope born of this world that ends with the tomb but a hope born of heaven that empties the tomb from within! In the resurrection of Christ the tomb is emptied from within! Christ has entered even death itself – abandonment from God – and Christ has overcome death from within. Death, sin and evil are swallowed up! The tomb is emptied from within. Death is robbed of its power!

The tombs of our world remain. Sadly, too many people still weep before the tombs of violence, war, abandonment and isolation but the finality of the tomb has been broken. Its power vanquished!

Where is the glory of the resurrection? It is in the gospel that says there is a different way to live other than the logic of the tomb – a way that says “no” to violence, “no” to abandonment and to war, hatred and isolation. The glory of the resurrection is found in the heart of the Christian who says “yes” to this different way of living – “yes” to friendship, “yes” to forgiveness and reconciliation, “yes” to peace and “yes” to the belief that death is not the final word!

And when we live this different way? We run, we run so fast! We run with Mary and Peter and John! We run a new way with a new hope born of heaven! Life itself impels us to run!